DCED extends lower interest rates on business loans

By Tim Stuhldreher,
April 3, 2013 at 11:00 AM
- Last modified: April 3, 2013 at 11:54 AM

Pennsylvania will extend interest rate reductions on four of its business loan programs another three months, the Department of Community and Economic Development said this morning.

In December, DCED announced it would reduce the interest rate from 2.75 percent to 1.5 percent and waive fees for applications made to the programs through March 31. Now, applications received through June 30 will be eligible, the agency said.

The four programs are the Export Financing Program, the Machinery and Equpment Loan Fund, the Pollution Prevention Assistance Program and the Small Business First Program, DCED said.

“By reducing interest rates and the cost of borrowing, we are encouraging new growth through providing critical access to capital and freeing up operating cash to support new job creation,” DCED Secretary C. Alan Walker said in a statement.

The rate reduction produced an uptick in loan applications, DCED said. The department said it has received 37 Small Business First Program applications since the December announcement, compared with 34 applications in all of 2011.

DCED said its action addresses recommendations, made by the Governor’s Manufacturing Advisory Council, that the state do more to help small businesses access capital. The council made its recommendations in a report to Gov. Tom Corbett and the legislature last year.